The sequel is coming!
Bloodlines: Alway and Forever is currently being written and I am excited to share it with you.
Enjoy the teaser and see you soon!
Chapter 1
Wednesday afternoons were normally quiet; the lunch rush would die off and Alex would make her way through Raven's wiping down tables, collecting the last few bills and dishes, and restocking the alcohol to make sure that they were ready for the end of day. Customers would generally find their way through the door around five thirty; the few hours in between Alex used as some spare time to focus on her other job, her witchy duties.
It had been five years since she had broken away from the coven known as the Council. Once a group of witches that Alex had admired and worked under. Their mission was to rid the world of vampires and for many years Alex had been brainwashed, that's how she looked at it, to believe that every single vampire on the planet was pure evil and deserved to spend eternity suffering for what they had done. It took one very special vampire for Alex to realise how far she had been misled and had been trying to make up for what she had done by helping those around her, human, witch, werewolf and vampire alike. It was the same thing her grandmother had done, Nadia Ravenwood had turned her back on the very same coven and had helped those in need.
Alex placed the last few dirty glasses into the dishwasher and flicked it shut as the jukebox finished its song. Taking one glance around the empty bar she grabbed a clean glass and poured herself some water before hoping up onto the bar and summoning her grimoire.
Since finding out her grandmother and the real reason behind the fate of her biological family, Alex wanted nothing more than to connect with them. Communing with magical ancestors required patient and practice, but in five years Alex hadn't been able to get more than a whisper. It was frustrating but she wouldn't let that stop her.
In between attempts to connect with her dead family members she kept herself busy. Her living family members had managed to stay out of trouble and even live almost like normal humans. Without the looming threat of psychotic vampires hanging over Elena's head, Alex was able to step back and live her own life without constant worry.
The grimoire had original been her grandmother's; Elijah had given it to her not long after they met. Alex believed that it was meant to be a peace offering of sorts, his way of trying to tell her that she could trust him. At the time, Alex had been so confused by her own messed up emotions and dealing with Elijah crazy brother that she had realised how big him handing over the book was. It was full of spells that could possibly cause a lot of issues for vampires, but he had given it too her because it was something that Alex should have.
The grimoire had grown since Alex had first looked through its pages. She had added her own spells, adjusted old ones, and even Bonnie and Sarah had both added a few pages here and there. It was a lot more than just her grandmother's grimoire now.
Alex had marked the most powerful tracking spell in the book a few days prior. It had come in handy when dealing with the Mikaelson siblings once they had woken up, and even years down the line Elijah often asked her to keep an eye on Kol and Finn's whereabouts. Opening to the marked page, she summoned a pen and a spare piece of paper to make notes on.
When a witch started with a spell it would always require exact steps to be followed, the older the witch and the more practice in a particular spell they had it was possible to make changes and improve upon or even use it for a different reason all together. Alex had joked to Elijah, while lying across the couch, a few days earlier that he should just place magical trackers on his siblings rather than have Alex constantly use to spell. Her prod at his overprotective tendencies turned into her now looking into the possibility of creating a spell that would track them.
Alex frowned at the spell and placed the grimoire down on the bar. She had considered that she could combine the tracking spell to an object, just like the daylight spell. Charm a necklace, or ring, and have them wear said object. The only thing was getting them to keep it in place.
Alex flipped to the daylight spell and wrote down the ingredients; she would need to do a few tests.
The bar's door swung open and Alex glanced up. The patron who strolled into the bar had a strained look of concentration on his face, and Alex could feel the magic pulsing around him. He took a few steps towards her and smirked in her direction.
It wasn't strange for a lone witch to show up during the day. Some knew that Alex was a witch and asked for help, sometimes they brought their werewolf or vampire friends. After leaving the Council and not having them control her every step, Alex had taken the chance and decided to open a bar. The building had been an old factory and the original owners were considering tearing it down and building something else, but one generous offer from an overcompensating Original boyfriend had the building signed over into Alex's name. From their it was transformed into a popular hangout for the supernatural community to come and enjoy themselves if they followed her rules.
The man stopped at the bar and lent against it.
"Kitchen's closed till five," said Alex. She only briefly made eye contact with him before looking back down at her notes.
He hummed in acknowledgement. "That's alright, sweetheart."
Alex glared at the pet name and made sure to lock eyes with him.
"I'll take a beer." The man pulled off his jacket and hung it over the back of the bar stool, before sitting down on the one next to it.
Alex placed her pen and paper down and slid off the bar to serve the man.
"This is a nice place you have here," he said.
The magic buzzing around the man was rubbing Alex the wrong way. While most witches could sense one another from a simple touch, the energy around everyone felt different to her. It seemed to be an ability shared by the witches from her bloodline. "Did you want tap or bottle?" she asked him.
"Tap, thanks." He smiled at her. Instead of it seeming friendly, the look sent an ice chill down Alex's back.
She poured the drink and very quickly waved her hand over the liquid. It had been a trick that Renee, her old mentor, had taught her back when she was still learning. A wordless sedative that could be placed on any sort of consumable and activated at any point after it was consumed. Powerful witches could probably sense such a trick, but Alex found that when someone acts as comfortable as the man before her was, he believed that either Alex was no threat to him, or he was just extremely cocky.
She placed the beer in front of him. "That will be six bucks."
The man nodded and slapped down a few one-dollar bills.
Alex held in the smirk when she could feel the magic coming off the bills. The man had done the same thing to the money that she had done to his drink. If she picked up the money and then touched her mouth or her nose, she would pass out.
"I'm surprised you don't remember me," the man spoke. He picked up the beer and took a swig.
Alex leant against the bar, crossed her arms and frowned. "I meet a lot of people."
He shrugged. "I suppose that is true. I've heard a lot of different things from other witches about you."
"Oh really?" Alex was annoyed at the idea of this man wanting to do through the process of small talk. If this man was a witch who worked for the Council than she would have preferred that he simply just attack her. At least then she could knock him out and not worry about knocking out some innocent bloke who just wanted her help. It had only happened once so far, but it didn't stop Alex from feeling bad about it.
"They tell me that you sympathise with vampires, that your friends with them." The man cringed and took another drink. "I found it hard to believe that you of all witches had sunk so low." Another sip. "I heard some many stories about you; how you hunted vampires ruthlessly, how you destroyed their kind without even a hint of remorse. But you went and got some from an original blood sucker and turned into a monster sympathiser."
Alex let a chuckle slip from her lips. In the years that had past since she had killed Renee and turned against the Council, she had met eight different witches that had been sent by the Council. Each of them had relayed a similar speech before Alex had smacked them into the ground. She hadn't killed all of them herself, Elijah had torn the hearts from two, and Rebekah and torn one apart after she that had attempted to torture her. The first deaths had been hard on Alex; she struggled with the guilt of killing her own kind. It had been Elijah and Elena whose constant reassurance that she was protecting herself and those she loved, and to stop the Council she would most likely have to resort to killing a lot more.
"Do you find me funny?" the man asked. He pushed himself up from the bar and glared at her.
"I find your little speech amusing." Alex tilted her head. "Do the Council tell you to relay that story before they send you down?"
The man huffed.
"And tell me, did they tell you about the others they sent before you? And what happened to them?"
The man's glared deepened and a vein appear along his forehead. "You are going to pay, for the deaths you have cause. Your magic will be stripped, and you will burn."
Alex smirked. "If your goal was to beat me, then maybe you shouldn't have drunk a drink that I poured for you." She pushed off the bar and took a step towards him. "Have a nice nap?"
The man frowned and seemed almost confused.
Alex snapped her fingers and the spelled liquid that he had consumed took over and made him fall to the floor. Looking down at the now unconscious witch, Alex frowned. What was she supposed to do with him now? If she dumped him somewhere and allowed him to wake up, he would just come back. Witches knew that you didn't go back to the Council empty handed.
Climbing over the bar she looked at the man and the towards the open door. She twisted her hand and the door lock clicked, no human needed to walk in on this and cause issues. Alex pulled her phone from her pocket and dialled the closest assistance.
"I haven't heard from you in over a week, where have you been?" Rebekah's voice wailed down the line.
Alex couldn't help but smile. When she had first met Rebekah, the Original had been rude and looked down on Alex. And when she had found out that Alex had locked Klaus in a box, she had decided that maybe Alex wasn't so bad. In Rebekah's eyes, Klaus deserved to spend some time in a box and suffer just how his siblings had. The two of them had found that there were many things they had in common, taste in music and men, but they also loved a good movie night with popcorn. Elijah had experienced on more than one occasion in the past two years being kicked out of the apartment he shared with Alex, by Rebekah who wanted a girl's night.
It had been odd becoming comfortable with Rebekah, an original vampire, whom once upon a time Alex would have spent her time trying to find a weakness to kill her. Instead, they shared popcorn and gossiped like teenagers.
"My apologises, but things have been busy," said Alex.
Rebekah huffed. "No excuses. Elijah may be knocking boots with you under the covers, but that doesn't mean he can hog you."
Alex sighed and laughed. "I'm not a possession."
"Maybe not, but he needs to learn to share," said Rebekah.
Alex held her phone against her ear with her shoulder and grabbed the man's jacket that was hanging over the back of the chair. "Anyway," she said, "I had a little run in with another witch from the Council…"
"And you need body disposal?"
Alex frowned. "No, if you let me finish."
"Sorry, but if there is a mess to be made than call Elijah because I am wearing my new Gucci shoes," said Rebekah.
Alex rolled her eyes. "Elijah headed to New York two days ago, so he isn't here. What I need is for you to come and collect the unconscious witch on the floor of my bar and take him back to the loft so I can interrogate him later."
Rebekah huffed.
Before Alex could speak any further, the blonde vampire appeared in front of her. Alex smiled. "Please," she said. Ending the call, she slipped her phone back into her pocket and dug into the man's jacket pockets.
Rebekah nodded. "Fine, but you owe me. I was on my way over to suggest we go out tonight but torturing a witch will just have to suffice."
Alex said, "Keep the torture to a minimum. I have ways of getting the information without this ending in cold blooded murder." She pulled a key card, from a hotel, out of the jacket and glanced at the name.
Rebekah pouted. "You take the fun out of everything." She grabbed the man's leg and started dragging him towards the back door. "Don't take too long, the longer you make me wait the more likely I am to start peeling off his skin."
Alex cringed. "That's so gross," she said.
Rebekah paused and smirked over her shoulder. "But effective." With a flash she was gone.
It still baffled Alex most days that this was now the norm for her. The hotel key card read 'The Grand'. There was only one hotel that a member of the council could afford that had a name like that; it was a crappy hotel that was known more for its bed bugs than its award-winning stained sheets. The typical place for a bad guy to hold up in while he stalks his target. She slipped the key into her back pocket and checked the other pocket. She pulled out a wallet and flipped it open to see his ID. Roman Sandford, 34. Alex pulled the few bills of cash and dropped the wallet back into the pocket. "He won't be needing this," she said.